October 02, 2016

PHILADELPHIA — After 1,571 games, 6,527 plate appearances, 382 home runs, 1,194 RBIs and 12,838 2/3 fielded innings, perennial franchise first baseman Ryan Howard will play in what is expected to be his final game with the Philadelphia Phillies (70-91) in the season finale against the postseason-bound New York Mets (87-74) Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.

With the Mets clinching the top National League Wild Card spot in their 5-3 victory over the Phillies on Saturday, rookie RHP Gabriel Ynoa will start in place of RHP Noah Syndergaard, who has started in just one game over the last 13 days (strep throat). Syndergaard will instead start in the Wild Card game at Citi Field on Wednesday against either the San Francisco Giants or St. Louis Cardinals.

Starting for the Phillies will be RHP Jerad Eickhoff as he makes his team-high 33rd start of the season and the 41st overall of his career. He would need to throw at least 8 2/3 innings on Sunday to reach the 200-inning plateau for the season.

The Phillies will honor Howard's contributions to the organization with a "special pregame presentation" at 2:30 p.m. It will be televised on Comcast SportsNet. Among Howard's best career accolades includes: 2005 National League Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player of the 2006 National League and 2009 NLCS, three-time All-Star and 2008 World Series champion.

October 01, 2016

PHILADELPHIA — With a one-game lead for the first spot in the National League Wild Card, the New York Mets (86-74) will send 19-year veteran RHP Bartolo Colon to the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies (70-90) in the second of a three-game regular season finale set Saturday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.

Due to rookie RHP Jake Thompson being shut down for the rest of the season, RHP Phil Klein will get the spot start Saturday against the Mets in what is believed to be a "bullpen game." The game will be Colon's career-tying 34th appearance of the season, matching his totals from 2001 with the Cleveland Indians and 2003 and 2004 with the Chicago White Sox.

The game was originally scheduled to take place at 7:05 p.m., however it was moved up to a national broadcast with the Mets on the brink of clinching back-to-back postseason berths for the second time in franchise history, the other being 1999 and 2000 (Wild Card).

The Phillies have lost seven of their last eight games, outscored 73-34 by opponents. Four of these defeats have been against the Mets.

September 30, 2016

PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies begin their final series of the season tonight against the Mets. In the midst of a four-game losing steak, Philadelphia will look to end their roller-coaster season on a high note. This will be the third time in Robert Gsellman's young career that he will face the Phillies. He has a 1.08 WHIP against the Phils in the previous two match-ups.

Meanwhile, Pete Mackanin will trot Alec Asher out to the mound for his squad. Asher's looked strong in his first few starts this season and will be looking to continue his success in his final start of the year.

September 29, 2016

PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies will play for the final time at Turner Field tonight as the Braves prepare to move to SunTrust Park at the beginning of the 2017 season. Freddie Freeman will be looking to continue a 30-game hitting streak, which is the longest in the Majors this year and just three shy of the Atlanta record. Should Freeman reach base safely tonight, he'll also extend his on-base streak to 46 games, which would be the MLB's longest such streak this season.

September 27, 2016

ATLANTA — For the final time in the history of Turner Field, RHP Jerad Eickhoff and the Philadelphia Phillies (70-86) will oppose the National League-worst Atlanta Braves (63-92) in a three-game series starting Tuesday evening.

The Phillies are 82-88 all-time at Turner Field, a venue which originally opened as Centennial Olympic Stadium to host the 1996 Summer Olympics. It was converted to a baseball stadium in 1997 and ever since has been the home of the Braves.

The Braves will relocate to SunTrust Park next season, which is northwest of the city in Cobb County. It will be located near Interstate 75 and Interstate 285 and is expected to have a capacity of approximately 41,500.

The Phillies are coming off of a four-game series against the National League Wild Card-hopeful New York Mets. They lost three of the four contests and were outscored 44-23 with 25 unanswered runs surrendered. After playing the Braves for three games, the Phillies will return to Citizens Bank Park starting Friday for their final series of the season against Terry Collins' club.

September 25, 2016

New York, NY - The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets conclude their four-game series this afternoon at Citi Field as Jake Thompson opposes Robert Gsellman.

The first three games of the series have been all about the offense, with the Mets taking the first two games by scores of 9-8 and 10-5 while the Phillies won on Saturday night, 10-8. Philadelphia powered ahead to a 10-0 lead early and nearly collapsed in the later innings, but were able to hold off the Mets bats and win by two.

The Mets remained tied with the Giants atop the National League Wild Card race, with the Cardinals still trailing by a half game heading into Sunday's action.

September 24, 2016

FLUSHING, N.Y. — Making his fourth start of the season will be Philadelphia Phillies (69-85) rookie RHP Alec Asher as he opposes southpaw Sean Gilmartin and the New York Mets (82-72) in the third of a four-game set Saturday evening at Citi Field.

Gilmartin will be making his first start after 13 relief appearances this season as he fills in for the ailing RHP Noah Syndergaard (strep throat).

The Phillies, who have been outscored 19-13 through two defeats so far this series, hope to avoid their fourth straight series defeat to the Mets. They are 28-40 against National League East opponents, 11-13 in overall Saturday matchups and 9-12 in the month of September so far this season.

September 23, 2016

New York, NY - The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets continue their four-game series at Citi Field tonight as Jeremy Hellickson opposes right-hander Gabriel Ynoa.

Philadelphia is coming off of one of their worst losses of the season last night, blowing a 6-4 lead in the 9th and an 8-6 lead in the 11th only to lose on an Asdrubal Cabrera walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th. Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez continued to struggle, allowing the game-tying home run in the 9th to Jose Reyes, inflating his ERA this month to 17.42. Edubray Ramos surrendered the game-winning blast to Cabrera.

The Phillies and Mets used a total of 49 players on Thursday night, with New York utilizing 27, including nine pitchers, so both teams will be looking for their starters to go deep into the game this evening in Queens. The Mets are tied with the Giants atop the National League Wild Card race, ahead of the Cardinals by a half game.

September 22, 2016

FLUSHING, N.Y. — The Philadelphia Phillies' (69-83) final road trip of the season will get underway in the first of a four-game set against rookie RHP Seth Lugo and the division-rival New York Mets (80-72) Thursday evening at Citi Field.

Southpaw Adam Morgan and the Phillies could play spoiler this series, as the Mets are currently in a three-way tie with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants for first place in the National League Wild Card standings. The Phillies have already been successful this month in distancing another division rival from postseason contention, with two series victories against the Miami Marlins from Sept. 5-7 and 16-18.

The Phillies are coming off of a two-game home sweep of the Chicago White Sox, in which they defeated both 2011 American League All-Star James Shields and perennial Cy Young Award candidate, Chris Sale. The Mets enter the series coming off of being swept by the National League-worst Atlanta Braves in a three-game series. Former Phillies outfielder Ender Inciarte robbed Yoenis Cespedes of a two-run walk-off home run in the series finale Wednesday evening.

Seven of the Phillies' final 10 games this season will be against the Mets, four away and three at home from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 to conclude Pete Mackanin's first full season as a major league manager. The Phillies have won four of their last five games.

Despite the close call at the end, the Phillies did a nice job knocking around James Shields last night. Tonight promises a much tougher contest as the Phils face AL Cy Young contender Chris Sale. Sale has often been in the conversation in recent years but has fallen short. A lack of run support in the second half could spell doom for him once again but he's pitched as well as anyone in baseball this season. He's coming off a complete game victory against the Royals last week where he allowed three runs and stuck out 10 of his 215 batters this season.

Jerad Eickhoff is looking to rebound from a long ball plagued outing against the Pirates last week where he allowed 6 of the 15 runs allowed by the Phillies pitchers. It was a forgettable outing but Eickhoff has been one of the best arms on the staff this season despite the occasional clunker.

Everyone is batting from the right side to start this one off which means Tyler Goeddel is starting in LF. Eickhoff has a tough assignment facing him, featuring a pretty dangergous 3-5 situation in Jose Abreu, Melky Cabrera, and Todd Frazier.